“The big noticeable movement in the products and brands landscape is that CAPITEC is the biggest Consumer bank and 85% of South Africans are now ‘banked’. A concerning statistic are the low levels of medical aid cover for South Africans and an interesting trend that’s come through is the rise of YouTube in OTT services (over the top streaming services),” said BRC CEO, Clare O’Neil.

The retail landscape

Shoprite is the retailer of choice for the overwhelming majority of South African shoppers. 68 percent of participants shopped there in the last month, followed by Mr Price (MRP) 38%, with Pick n Pay closely behind at 37%.

Hyper retailers are the least popular choice with Checkers Hyper attracting only 6% of shoppers in the last month, Makro (4%) and Game (3%).

Groceries

45 % of participants choose to buy their groceries at Shoprite, followed by Pick n Pay (17%) and Spar (12%). Checkers (7%) is the fourth most popular choice for grocery shopping.

Toiletries and Cosmetics

Shoprite dominates this category attracting 35% of shoppers, followed by Clicks (20%) and Pick n Pay (11%). Specialist health and beauty retailer Dis-Chem (3%) is the seventh most popular choice in this category as shoppers choose to buy toiletries and cosmetics at Spar (9%), PEP (4%) and Checkers (4%).

Clothing

Mr Price is South Africa’s clothing retailer of choice (22%) by a wide margin. They are followed by Ackermans (11%), PEP (10%) and Edgars (9%). 6% of South Africans are buying their clothing at Shoprite and 5% are shopping at Woolworths, with Pick n Pay coming in at the bottom of the list, attracting 3% of shoppers.

While South Africans continue to shop for groceries and essentials, 1% had not shopped for toiletries or cosmetics in the last month and 10% of shoppers said they had not bought any clothing in the last month.

Financial services

Banking

Capitec is South Africa’s bank of choice by a large margin, with 44% of participants doing their personal banking there. This is followed by FNB (20%) and ABSA (18%).

Postbank accounts for 3% of personal banking and 15% percent of participants do not have a bank account at all.

Loyalty programmes

Pick n Pay Smart Shopper has the largest subscription base (35%) and is also used most often (44%). This is followed by Clicks Club subscription (29%) and Thank U (Edgars, CNA, Jet) at 17%; 44% of participants do not subscribe to any loyalty programmes.

Insurance

The majority of South Africans (81%) do not have short-term insurance and 65% do not have life insurance.

Medical Aid

Discovery Health is the most popular medical aid, but has a low subscriber base of 5%. This is followed by GEMS at 4% and Bonitas at 3%; 81% of participants said they do not belong to a medical aid at all.

Automotive

The majority of South Africans (66%) do not own a car in their household. Toyota holds the top spot with 10% of cars in a household, followed closely by Volkswagen (9%) and Ford and BMW both coming in at 4%.

South Africa’s most popular fuel brands are Engen (53%), followed by BP (39%) and Caltex (37%), beating out Shell at 33%.

Telecommunications

Cellphones

Samsung is the overwhelming handset of choice (51%), followed by Nokia (27%) and Huawei (16%). A mere 3% of South Africans do not own a cellphone at all.

Vodacom is the most popular service provider (49%) followed by MTN (45%) and Cell C (27%), while Telkom accounts for 8% of cellphone users.

Personal care

The vast majority of South Africans use personal care products on a daily basis. 88% of South Africans use deoderant every day, with the most popular brand being Shield (48%). The most popular skincare brand in the country is Vaseline (37%) followed by Nivea (33%), with 83% of respondents using skincare products daily.

Over the counter medication

Pain products account for 80% of the spend in this category with Grandpa being the brand used most often (33%), followed by Panado (27%) and Disprin (13%).

Med-Lemon is the leader in the Coughs and Colds category, with 31% saying they had used it in the last month. Vicks is the second most popular brand with 25% usage in the last month.

Beverages

Fifty-five percent of South Africans drink Carbonated Soft Drinks (CSDs) on a daily basis. Coca-Cola is the overwhelming favourite at 77%, followed by Sprite (32%) and Stoney (31%).

In the non-carbonated soft drinks category, cordials and squashes are the most popular (73%) with Oros being the most popular brand. This is followed by fruit juice (69%) with Liqui-Fruit in first place , energy drinks (44%) with Powerade in first place and bottled water (40%) with Aquellé as the brand of choice.

Milk is consumed daily by 52% of South Africans, with Clover being the most popular brand (61%), followed by Parmalat (36%). Housebrands/No name brands are the third most popular choice in this category.

Freshpak is South Africa’s most popular tea brand and 58% of South Africans say they drink a cup of tea every day; 32% drink instant coffee every day, with Ricoffy being the most popular choice.

In the Beer and Cider category, Castle Light is South Africa’s favourite beer brand (34%), followed by Hunters Dry/Gold (28%) and Heineken (24%).

Daily consumption of beer and cider is at 22% with the majority of respondents (53%) reporting they do not drink beer or cider at all.

Food

Rice is South Africa’s starch of choice (97%), and Tastic tops the list of popular brands, with 62% of respondents saying they have eaten it in the last month.

Maize is South Africa’s second most popular starch, with 90% having eaten it in the last month and White Star being the most popular brand (41%) followed by Ace (27%).

Bread is eaten daily by a large majority of South Africans (73%), with Albany being the most popular brand (56%), followed by Sasko (43%) and Blue Ribbon (36%). Only 1% of respondents said they do not eat bread at all.

Canned foods are consumed by 51% of South Africans on a daily basis. Koo is by far the favourite brand (81%) followed by Lucky Star (63%) and All Gold (35%).

Forty six percent of South Africans consume chilled processed meats every day with Rainbow Simply Chicken being the most popular brand (45%), followed by Enterprise (31%) and Eskort (30%).

Appliances

Defy is South Africa’s most popular large kitchen appliance brand (51%), followed by LG (37%) and Samsung (35%). Only 4% of respondents do not own any large kitchen appliances.

Samsung is South Africa’s electronic goods brand of choice (42%) followed by LG (38%) and Hisense (20%).

Leisure and travel

Restaurants and Fast Food Outlets: 43% of South Africans visit these at least once a month. KFC is by far the favourite choice (73%), followed by Chicken Licken and Debonairs Pizza both at 25%.

Domestic Airlines

The vast majority (90%) of South Africans have not travelled by air within the country over the last year. Mango is the most popular domestic airline (5%) followed by South African Airways (4%).

Media usage

Television viewership (97%) just pips radio listenership (95%) and 26% of respondents are using video streaming services.

The most popular TV channel is SABC 1 (76%), followed by SABC 2 (62%) and e.tv (58%). Metro FM is the most popular radio station (35%), followed by Ukhozi FM (23%) and Umhlobo Wenene FM (14%).

YouTube is the overwhelming favourite video streaming service (87%), followed by Showmax (6%) and Netflix (5%).

“This Products & Brands survey is important for media owners and marketers as it allows them to use this data for profiling – brand usage against media types,” said O’Neil. She added that brand owners have access to the data free of charge as the BRC have funded such.

Bettina Moss is an inspirational writer, motivational speaker, GlowCoach, intuitive counsellor, mentor and presenter in the field of personal growth and development. She founded GloWoman in 2010.